Efficient control signaling using common search space

ABSTRACT

There is disclosed a method of operating a network node in a radio access network, the method includes transmitting a resource allocation message comprising a bit field, the resource allocation message being transmitted for reception in a common search space to which a first bandwidth part with a first unit size of resource allocation is associated. The bit field allocates resources in a second bandwidth part with a second unit size of resource allocation. The disclosure also pertains to related devices and methods.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/384,183, filed Apr. 15, 2019, which is a continuation ofInternational Application No. PCT/SE2019/050125, filed Feb. 14, 2019,which claims the benefit of Swedish National Application No. 1800040-6,filed on Feb. 16, 2018, the entireties of all of which are incorporatedherein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure pertains to radio access technology, in particular inthe context of 5G networks.

BACKGROUND

In radio access networks like NR networks, user equipments (UEs) may beconfigured to operate of different bandwidth parts of a carrier, betweenwhich they may be switched, e.g. with control information messages likeDCI messages. This possibility brings increased flexibility and mayimprove performance, however, it may require new ways of managing andcontrolling UEs.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure aims at providing new ways of managing UEs inradio access networks, in particular in networks in which the UEs may beable to switch between bandwidth parts, respectively may be activated ondifferent bandwidth parts. In particular, consistent, reliable andefficient handling of control signaling in common search spaces may befacilitated. The approaches are particularly advantageously implementedin a 5^(th) Generation (5G) telecommunication network or 5G radio accesstechnology or network (RAT/RAN), in particular according to 3GPP (3^(rd)Generation Partnership Project, a standardization organization). Asuitable RAN may in particular be a RAN according to NR, for examplerelease 15 or later, or LTE Evolution.

There is disclosed a method of operating a network node in a radioaccess network. The method comprises transmitting a resource allocationmessage comprising a bit field. The resource allocation message istransmitted for reception in a common search space to which a firstbandwidth part with a first unit size of resource allocation isassociated, wherein the bit field allocates resources in a secondbandwidth part with a second unit size of resource allocation. Themethod may comprise communicating with the user equipment based on theallocated resources.

Moreover, there is disclosed a network node for a radio access network.The network node is adapted to transmit a resource allocation messagecomprising a bit field, wherein the resource allocation message is(respectively, the network node being adapted for transmittingaccordingly, and/or transmitting accordingly) for reception in a commonsearch space to which a first bandwidth part with a first unit size ofresource allocation is associated. The bit field allocates resources ina second bandwidth part with a second unit size of resource allocation.The network node may be adapted to communicate with the user equipmentbased on the allocated resources. It may be considered that the networknode comprises, and/or is adapted for utilizing, processing circuitryand/or radio circuitry, in particular a transmitter and/or transceiverand/or receiver, for transmitting and/or communicating.

There is also proposed a method of operating a user equipment in a radioaccess network. The method comprises receiving a resource allocationmessage, the resource allocation message comprising a bit field. Theresource allocation message is received in a common search space towhich a first bandwidth part with a first unit size of resourceallocation is associated, wherein the bit field allocates resources in asecond bandwidth part with a second unit size of resource allocation.The method further comprises communicating on the second bandwidth partutilizing the second unit size based on the bit field.

Pertaining to another approach, there is described a user equipment fora radio access network. The user equipment is adapted to receive aresource allocation message. The resource allocation message comprises abit field. The user equipment is adapted to receive the resourceallocation message in a common search space to which a first bandwidthpart with a first unit size of resource allocation is associated,wherein the bit field allocates resources in a second bandwidth partwith a second unit size of resource allocation. The user equipmentfurther is adapted to communicate on the second bandwidth part utilizingthe second unit size based on the bit field.

Transmitting a resource allocation message may be based on, and/orcomprise, scheduling one or more user equipments for communicating, inparticular on the second bandwidth part, and/or for communicatingutilizing the resources to be allocated by the bit field. It should benoted that communicating based on resources may generally be based onconsidering time delays between transmitter and receiver, such that e.g.a network node may have to consider that transmission on allocatedresources require traveling time from a user equipment to the networknode.

The first unit size in general may be different from the second unitsize. Alternatively, and/or additionally, the first bandwidth part maybe different from the first bandwidth part, e.g. in terms of extensionin frequency domain (e.g., total number of PRBs and/or subcarriersincluded in the bandwidth parts and/or addressable in the bandwidthparts) and/or numerology and/or beginning and/or end in frequency domainand/or regarding an associated code like a scrambling code and/orspreading code and/or identifier. It may be considered that even withthe same unit size, a bit field may lead to different resources beingallocated in different bandwidth parts with different reference points(e.g., lowest or highest frequency or unit/PRB group location). On theother hand, different unit sizes can lead to at least overlappingresources depending on the reference point.

In general, the first bandwidth part and the second bandwidth part mayoverlap at least in part. It may be considered that the extension infrequency domain of the second bandwidth part is larger than that of thefirst bandwidth part. The common search space may generally beconfigured for the first bandwidth part, and/or in relation to and/orparametrized for, the first unit size.

The common search space may generally be included in the first andsecond bandwidth part. In some variants, the common search space islocated at the end or beginning of the first or second bandwidth part infrequency domain (also referred to as frequency space). Generally, abandwidth part, or a search space like the common search space, may beconsidered to be located at the beginning of a different bandwidth part,or a bandwidth part it is included in, if its lowest frequencysubcarrier and/or frequency and/or physical resource block (or group)coincides and/or overlaps with the corresponding lowest of the bandwidthpart. In general, a bandwidth part, or a search space like the commonsearch space, may be considered to be located at the end of a differentbandwidth part, or a bandwidth part it is included in, if its highestfrequency subcarrier and/or frequency and/or physical resource block (orgroup) coincides and/or overlaps with the corresponding highest of thebandwidth part. In some cases, the common search space may be located atthe beginning of the first bandwidth part and at the end of the secondbandwidth part in frequency domain. It should be noted that it isreferred to the frequency domain extension of the common search space(e.g., indicated in subcarriers and/or physical resource blocks and/orPRB groups covered by the common search space). A common search spacemay generally be configured or configurable, e.g. by the network nodeand/or network, or may be predefined.

It may be considered that a user equipment may be adapted to beconfigured or configurable, and/or may be configured, with a set ofbandwidth parts, the set of bandwidth parts comprising a plurality ofbandwidth parts, on one of which the user equipment may be active and/ormay be activated for communicating. The configuration and activation maybe effected differently, e.g. with different messages and/or ondifferent layers of control; however, in some cases, the same message orsame layer may effect both. The configuration of the set may be with RRCsignaling. It may be considered that the activation of a bandwidth partof the set is indicated with physical layer signaling, e.g. DCIsignaling or SCI signaling. However, it may be considered that in somecase, the activation is based on RRC signaling, and/or due to a timerreaching a threshold, which may for example cause a UE to fall back to adefault bandwidth part, which may be configured with and/or within theset.

A unit size may be represented in size of a Physical Resource BlockGroup, which may comprise N Physical Resource Blocks. Generally, theunit size may represent an extension in frequency space, e.g. a numberof subcarriers and/o PRBs, which may be configured or configurable,and/or predefined, e.g. for a default situation. A PRB may comprise 12subcarriers, which may be predefined. In some cases, the number ofsubcarriers in a PRB may be configured or configurable; the number ofPRBs in a PRB group may be configured or configurable (in particular,explicitly), and/or may depend, e.g. implicitly, on one or morecharacteristics of the associated bandwidth part, e.g. its total size infrequency domain, which may be represented in subcarriers and/or PRBs.The unit size associated to a bandwidth part may be such that at least90%, at least 95%, at least 99% or all of the bandwidth part may becovered by the bit field, if it is mapped to frequency domain based onthe unit size. A unit size and/or PRB group size of 1 (covering one PRB)may be considered, e.g. for a default bandwidth part or an initialbandwidth part or in narrowband operation.

In some cases, the bit field may indicate a bit map mapped to PhysicalResource Block Groups beginning at a reference Physical Resource BlockGroup, or the bit field may indicate a range of Physical Resource BlockGroups and/or in frequency domain, e.g. indicating at least one borderlike the start and/or end, and/or size of the range (e.g., number ofunits like PRBs or PRB groups covered). Mapping a bit map may includemapping each bit of the map to a (different) Physical Resource BlockGroup. The reference Physical Resource Block Group may the lowestfrequency Physical Resource Block Group of the Bandwidth Part, or insome cases the highest, or another one, depending on the system setup(e.g., on the standard used). It may be considered that a mappingindication is provided, e.g. in the resource allocation message. Themapping indication may comprise and/or be represented by a flag (e.g., asingle bit) or a bit subfield comprising a plurality of bits. Themapping indication may in some cases indicate whether the bit fieldrepresents a bit map or a range.

It may generally be indicated that the bit field allocates resourcesbased on the second unit size. This indication may be configured orconfigurable, or predefined. It may be considered that the indication isconfigured with the bandwidth part, and/or indicated with the resourceallocation message. In some cases, it may be considered that the mappingindication also indicates that the bit field allocates resources basedon the second unit size. For example, if the mapping indicationindicates a bit map, this may be considered an indication that the bitfield allocates resources based on the second unit size, and if themapping indication indicates a range, this may be considered anindication that the bit field allocates resources based on the firstunit size (e.g., has to be interpreted accordingly, which may indicatethat the allocation is relative to the first bandwidth part).

Generally, the bandwidth parts may be associated to the same carrier,e.g. defined to be included in the same carrier, and/or have the samenumerology, and/or to the same carrier aggregation or the same carrierpair (e.g., in FDD).

It may be considered that the bit field (and/or the resource allocationmessage) allocates resources for a specific channel, e.g. a data channeland/or broadcast channel. The channel may be a physical channel. In somecases, the channel may be a downlink or a sidelink channel, however itmay be an uplink channel. Example channels are PDSCH or PSSCH, or PDCCHor PSCCH, or PUSCH or PSSCH or a Random Access Channel like RACH. Ingeneral, the resources may be associated to a specific message formatand/or channel, e.g. for control information or data. Alternatively, oradditionally, the resources may be allocated for system informationand/or random access. System information may for example comprise asystem information block, and/or master information block, or RemainingSystem Information (RMSI). Alternatively, or additionally, the resourcesmay be for transmitting a Random Access preamble (e.g., msg1) orreceiving a Random Access response (RAR, or msg2).

It may be considered that the resource allocation message is transmittedon a control channel, in particular a physical control channel likePDCCH or PSSCH. The resource allocation message may be broadcast on thechannel, or be intended for a (e.g., configured or configurable) groupof UEs, or be intended for a specific UE. Intended target/s may beidentified by the resource/s or channel used (or one or morecharacteristics thereof), and/or by an identifier, in particular a RNTIused for the resource allocation message.

Generally, the resource allocation message may be addressed to aplurality of user equipments. The user equipments may be active ondifferent second bandwidth parts, or the same. In general, each of theuser equipments may be configured with the same common search space.

The bit field may allocate resources in a third bandwidth part with athird unit size of resource allocation. The third bandwidth part may beassociated to the same user equipment, or to a different UE, and/or beassociated to the same carrier, or to another carrier, and/or to thesame transmission direction or a different direction. It should be notedthat different bandwidth parts may be active for different communicationdirections. The third bandwidth part and/or the third unit size may bedifferent from the second bandwidth part and/or second unit size,respectively, and/or different from the first bandwidth part and/orfirst unit size, respectively. Corresponding fourth and arbitrary Nthbandwidth parts and/or unit sizes may be considered.

It may be considered that the resources allocated correspond to the samefrequency resources, and/or overlap in different bandwidth parts, or todifferent resources.

The approaches described herein facilitate efficient resource allocationusing a common search space, without being limited to address only thebandwidth part associated to the common search space. Also, resources onmultiple bandwidth parts—e.g. of the same set, and/or for differentcommunication directions, and/or on different carriers, and/or fordifferent UEs, may be allocated with a single message, with lowsignaling overhead. The approaches are particularly suitable if theresources are for broadcast/multicast (in downlink), or forcontention-based access (e.g., in uplink), e.g. random access, but canalso be implemented for user data signaling. A particularly useful casemay be related to broadcast and/or multicast of user data from aninformation system, e.g. for video.

There is also considered a program product comprising instructionsadapted for causing processing circuitry to control and/or perform amethod as described herein.

A carrier medium arrangement carrying and/or storing a program productas described herein may be considered.

A bandwidth part and/or search space (in frequency domain) may becharacterized by a reference point (e.g., border frequency, e.g. loweror higher border) and the number of units of unit size (e.g., PRBgroups) covered and/or included.

A resource allocation may have a unit size, based on which the resourcesare allocated, e.g. with a range or a bit map. A bit field may beconsidered to allocate resources, e.g. if it identifies or indicates theresources, which may be used for communicating, e.g. by the intendedtarget/s.

Communicating on a bandwidth part may comprise transmitting and/orreceiving in the associated frequency range and/or utilizing thecharacteristics associated to the bandwidth part. Communicatingutilizing a unit size and/or allocation may comprise using the resourcesallocated according to the unit size, e.g. for transmitting and/orreceiving. Receiving on resources may comprise expecting signaling onsuch resources, and/or searching for signaling on the resources, and/orassociating signaling on the resources with the transmitter they areallocated to, and/or decoding and/or demodulating signaling on theresources assuming the transmitter, e.g. by decoding based on anidentifier associated to the transmitter. Transmitting utilizing aresource allocation may comprise transmitting on the resources allocated(or part thereof), which may include considering a timing advance ortime shift due to signaling travel time, which may be indicated to thetransmitter, e.g. with control signaling, for example the resourceallocation message, or other control signaling, e.g. another message. Anetwork node allocation resources for transmitting may receiveassociated signaling utilizing the allocated resources by consideringtime delays due to signaling travel time.

It may generally be considered that a frequency domain extension of thecommon search space is included in the first bandwidth part and thesecond bandwidth part. A bandwidth part may generally extend infrequency domain.

A common search space may be a search space configured or configurablefor one or a plurality of UEs. A search space may generally be aresource range, in particular with extension in frequency space. Acommon search space may in some cases be associated to a commonidentifier or code or scrambling, e.g. identified with systeminformation, e.g. a SS block. It may be considered that a common searchspace is associated to a control channel, in particular a PDCCH orPSCCH. The control signaling may be signaling on such a channel, and/orcomprise a control information message like a DCI message or SCImessage.

Receiving control signaling may comprise, and/or be based on,demodulating and/or decoding the control signaling. Decoding may bebased on at least one characteristic. Receiving control signaling in asearch space may in general comprise expecting and/or searching for thecontrol signaling on resources of the search space, in particular in anassociated frequency range. The common search space may generally beconfigured and/or predefined, and/or indicate with system information.

In some variants, the at least one characteristic of a bandwidth partmay correspond to a scrambling code and/or identifier and/or numerologyand/or spreading code, and/or modulation and/or coding scheme, and/orunit size, and/or extension in frequency space and/or reference point. Ascrambling code may be used for scrambling bits for transmission. Anidentifier may be a specific form of scrambling code, used e.g. forscrambling of error coding bits, e.g. CRC and/or parity bits. Differentbandwidth parts may differ in at least on such characteristic. Referencepoints of BWPs may be relative to a carrier, e.g. the same carrier.

It may be considered that the second bandwidth part may comprise thefirst bandwidth part. Thus, at least part of the frequency resources maybe shared. However, in particular due to the difference incharacteristic/s, reception of the control signaling based on the secondset of characteristics associated to the second bandwidth may fail(e.g., decoding may not be successful). Decoding may generally compriseerror detection, which may indicate unsuccessful decoding.

It may be considered that the first bandwidth part may be a defaultbandwidth part or initial bandwidth part. An initial bandwidth part maybe a bandwidth part indicated by, and/or based on, and/or related to,initial random access, e.g. before RRC connected mode has been achieved.An initial bandwidth part may be indicated with system information, e.g.a SS block, or be predefined. A default bandwidth part may be configuredwith control signaling, e.g. with a RRC configuration. The defaultbandwidth part may be a bandwidth part a UE falls back to after aconfigured or configurable timer runs out, if not instructed otherwise,e.g. to reset the timer.

Generally, the at least one (different) characteristic may influencedecoding or error decoding, e.g. by scrambling error coding bits likeCRC bits or parity bits. Accordingly, the difference in thischaracteristic may lead to unsuccessful decoding of the controlsignaling if the second bandwidth part, respectively the associatedsecond set of characteristics is used for decoding.

The bit field may be mapped to a resource structure according to thefirst bandwidth part. The at least one different characteristic may be aunit size of frequency resources the bit field is mapped to, e.g. if thebit field represents a bit pattern as bit map, in which each bit mayindicates a unit of PRBs. In other variants, the bit field may indicatea frequency range within the bandwidth part, e.g. by indicating startingsubcarrier or PRB or PRB group, and ending subcarrier or PRB or PRBgroup, and/or an interval size in PRBs or subcarriers or PRB groups.Such a unit (in particular, PRB group size) may be different between thecharacteristics, e.g., due to the bandwidth parts having differentlysized frequency intervals covered by same or similar sized bit fields,or due to different subcarrier spacing. A unit size may be configurable,e.g. with a configuration of a bandwidth part. It may be considered thatthe resource allocation pertains to signaling to be received by the userequipment. Such signaling may in particular in a physical channel and/ordata channel and/or data channel, e.g. a PDSCH or PSSCH. Communicatingbased on the control signaling may comprise receiving such signaling.Alternatively, or additionally, communicating based on the controlsignaling may comprise transmitting on resources indicated by the bitfield, e.g. on physical channel and/or a control channel or datachannel, and/or a shared or dedicated channel, e.g. PUSCH or PUCCH orPSSCH or PSCCH.

The resource allocation message may be considered a control informationmessage, and may in particular a DCI message or SCI message. In somecases, it may be of a fallback type, which may for example have a fixedsize in bits larger than 10 bits. It may be considered that the resourceallocation message is on format 1-0 or 0-0, e.g. according to the NRstandard.

Communicating may pertain in particular to a transmission of systeminformation to be received, e.g. Remaining Minimum System Information(RMSI) and/or SIB-transmission (System Information Block, RMSI may beassociated to such, in particular to SIB1); such transmission may be forreception by the UE or receiving radio node. In some examples,communicating may in particular pertain to a random access transmission,e.g. transmission of a random access message 1 (msg1) and/or on a randomaccess channel like RACH, e.g., for transmission by the controlled radionode, and/or a random access response (RAR) to be received by thecontrolled radio node. It may generally be considered that a (frequency)resource allocation and/or code allocation is associated to a timeresource allocation, e.g. indicated in the control informationsignaling, or separately thereof. The control information message may beassociated to a specific channel, e.g. control channel, and/or aphysical channel, in particular a PDCCH or PSCCH, which may be a commonchannel, intended for a group of receivers/controlled radio nodes. Aresource range for the control information message may be indicated bysystem information, e.g. in a SS block. The time resource allocation maybe associated to a PDSCH or PSSCH transmission (to be received by thecontrolled radio node), which may in particular comprise RMSI and/orother system information.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The drawings are provided to illustrate concepts and approachesdescribed herein, and are not intended to limit their scope. Thedrawings comprise:

FIG. 1, showing an exemplary mapping of a resource allocation message todifferent unit sizes;

FIG. 2, showing an exemplary radio node that may be implemented as userequipment; and

FIG. 3, showing an exemplary radio node that may be implemented asnetwork node.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

An identifier may be included in a message in an explicit identificationfield. However, in some variants, it may be encoded and/or scrambled onbits of the message, in particular on error coding bits like CRC orparity bits. Different identifiers (e.g., in a set) may be configuredand/or predefined. This approach allows mapping the time resourceallocation indication to different tables depending on the identifier.Such identifiers are widely used and may be set up early with greatflexibility (or be predefined, requiring no signaling overhead). Anidentifier may be such that a controlled radio node or signaling radionode will not be able to successfully decode a control informationmessage if it uses the wrong identifier and/or does not use the correctidentifier. Examples of identifiers comprise Radio Network TemporaryIdentifiers, RNTIs. A RNTI may be a common RNTI or a shared RNTI or aUE-specific RNTI. RNTIs of different types comprise a Paging RNTI and/ora System Information RNTI and/or a Random Access RNTI and/or a CellRNTI. RNTIs, in particular Random Access RNTI (used, e.g., for randomaccess signaling), and/or System Information RNTI (used for indicationsystem information signaling, e.g. via a broadcast channel like a PBCH,Physical Broadcast CHannel, which may be associated to a SS block)and/or Paging RNTI (used for paging one or more controlled radio nodes)may be easily provided, e.g. pre-defined, and/or via broadcast signalingor configuration signaling. A RNTI may be considered to be common orshared if it is cell-wide and/or available for a plurality of UEs,and/or used for multicast or broadcast of information.

FIG. 1 schematically shows a bit field in a resource allocation message.The bit field generally may have a size of M bits, which may be fixedand/or or predetermined, e.g. for a fallback type message, orconfigurable. The size may be at least or equal to 4 bits, at least orequal to 8 bits, at least or equal to 12 bits, or at least or equal to16 bits. The size may depend on numerology and/or carrier bandwidthused, and/or on the frequency domain extension of the first bandwidthpart and/or common search space. The resource allocation message may betransmitted in a common search space, which may be configured to one ormore UEs. The common search space may be associated to a first bandwidthpart BWP1 and a first unit size (e.g., size of a Physical Resource BlockGroup, in the example PRBG size 1). The bit field (with 12 bits in FIG.1 as example) may be mapped to different bandwidth parts BWP2 and BWP3(in the example) based on different unit sizes (PRBG size 2 and 3,respectively). A bit map mapping is indicated, wherein each bit of thebit field indicates whether a PRB group (starting from PRBG1, indicatinga reference point, e.g. the lowest frequency PRBG of the BWP) isallocated for communicating or not. The resources allocated may beassociated to a specific channel and/or format and/or type of signaling,and/or a communication direction, e.g. based on an indication in theresource allocation message, and/or a characteristic of the message,and/or the common search space. The resource allocation message may be aDCI message, and/or scrambled with an identifier like a RNTI, which maybe readable/decodable by the UE/s targeted by the message. BWP2 may beon the same carrier as BWP1 and/or BWP3, but may also on a differentone. In some cases, BWP2 is associated to the same UE as BWP3, but theymay be associated to different UEs. BWP1 may be associated to the UE/s.A BWP may in general be considered to be associated to a UE if it is inthe set of BWPs configured for the UE. Communicating on BWP2 and BWP3may be according to the bit field of the resource allocation message. Itmay generally be considered that communicating is performed on an activeand/or activated bandwidth part. A UE may be active on at least one,more than one, or exactly one BWP (e.g., per carrier). A configured setof BWPs for a UE may comprise 2 or more, in particular 4 BWPs.

Size 1 can be 1 or more PRBs per group. Sizes 2 and 3 may be differentfrom each other and/or size 1, and in some cases may in particular belarger than size 1.

FIG. 2 schematically shows a radio node, in particular a terminal orwireless device 10, which may in particular be implemented as a UE (UserEquipment). Radio node 10 comprises processing circuitry (which may alsobe referred to as control circuitry) 20, which may comprise a controllerconnected to a memory. Any module of the radio node 10, e.g. acommunicating module or determining module, may be implemented in and/orexecutable by, the processing circuitry 20, in particular as module inthe controller. Radio node 10 also comprises radio circuitry 22providing receiving and transmitting or transceiving functionality(e.g., one or more transmitters and/or receivers and/or transceivers),the radio circuitry 22 being connected or connectable to the processingcircuitry. An antenna circuitry 24 of the radio node 10 is connected orconnectable to the radio circuitry 22 to collect or send and/or amplifysignals. Radio circuitry 22 and the processing circuitry 20 controllingit are configured for cellular communication with a network, e.g. a RANas described herein, and/or for sidelink communication. Radio node 10may generally be adapted to carry out any of the methods of operating aradio node like terminal or UE disclosed herein; in particular, it maycomprise corresponding circuitry, e.g. processing circuitry, and/ormodules.

FIG. 3 schematically show a radio node 100, which may in particular beimplemented as a network node 100, for example an eNB or gNB or similarfor NR. Radio node 100 comprises processing circuitry (which may also bereferred to as control circuitry) 120, which may comprise a controllerconnected to a memory. Any module, e.g. transmitting module and/orreceiving module and/or configuring module of the node 100 may beimplemented in and/or executable by the processing circuitry 120. Theprocessing circuitry 120 is connected to control radio circuitry 122 ofthe node 100, which provides receiver and transmitter and/or transceiverfunctionality (e.g., comprising one or more transmitters and/orreceivers and/or transceivers). An antenna circuitry 124 may beconnected or connectable to radio circuitry 122 for signal reception ortransmittance and/or amplification. Node 100 may be adapted to carry outany of the methods for operating a radio node or network node disclosedherein; in particular, it may comprise corresponding circuitry, e.g.processing circuitry, and/or modules. The antenna circuitry 124 may beconnected to and/or comprise an antenna array. The node 100,respectively its circuitry, may be adapted to perform any of the methodsof operating a network node or a radio node as described herein; inparticular, it may comprise corresponding circuitry, e.g. processingcircuitry, and/or modules. The radio node 100 may generally comprisecommunication circuitry, e.g. for communication with another networknode, like a radio node, and/or with a core network and/or an internetor local net, in particular with an information system, which mayprovide information and/or data to be transmitted to a user equipment.

Generally, it may be considered that a network node configures, and/oris adapted to configure, a plurality of UEs with the common search spaceand/or the first bandwidth part, and/or with a first bandwidth parthaving the first set of characteristics, and/or configures and/or isadapted to configure, a plurality of UEs with a second bandwidth partsand/or second sets of characteristics, which may be the same ordifferent.

References to specific resource structures like transmission timingstructure and/or symbol and/or slot and/or mini-slot and/or subcarrierand/or carrier may pertain to a specific numerology, which may bepredefined and/or configured or configurable. A transmission timingstructure may represent a time interval, which may cover one or moresymbols. Some examples of a transmission timing structure aretransmission time interval (TTI), subframe, slot and mini-slot. A slotmay comprise a predetermined, e.g. predefined and/or configured orconfigurable, number of symbols, e.g. 6 or 7, or 12 or 14. A mini-slotmay comprise a number of symbols (which may in particular beconfigurable or configured) smaller than the number of symbols of aslot, in particular 1, 2, 3 or 4 symbols. A transmission timingstructure may cover a time interval of a specific length, which may bedependent on symbol time length and/or cyclic prefix used. Atransmission timing structure may pertain to, and/or cover, a specifictime interval in a time stream, e.g. synchronized for communication.Timing structures used and/or scheduled for transmission, e.g. slotand/or mini-slots, may be scheduled in relation to, and/or synchronizedto, a timing structure provided and/or defined by other transmissiontiming structures. Such transmission timing structures may define atiming grid, e.g., with symbol time intervals within individualstructures representing the smallest timing units. Such a timing gridmay for example be defined by slots or subframes (wherein in some cases,subframes may be considered specific variants of slots). A transmissiontiming structure may have a duration (length in time) determined basedon the durations of its symbols, possibly in addition to cyclicprefix/es used. The symbols of a transmission timing structure may havethe same duration, or may in some variants have different duration. Thenumber of symbols in a transmission timing structure may be predefinedand/or configured or configurable, and/or be dependent on numerology.The timing of a mini-slot may generally be configured or configurable,in particular by the network and/or a network node. The timing may beconfigurable to start and/or end at any symbol of the transmissiontiming structure, in particular one or more slots.

There is generally considered a program product comprising instructionsadapted for causing processing and/or control circuitry to carry outand/or control any method described herein, in particular when executedon the processing and/or control circuitry. Also, there is considered acarrier medium arrangement carrying and/or storing a program product asdescribed herein.

A carrier medium arrangement may comprise one or more carrier media.Generally, a carrier medium may be accessible and/or readable and/orreceivable by processing or control circuitry. Storing data and/or aprogram product and/or code may be seen as part of carrying data and/ora program product and/or code. A carrier medium generally may comprise aguiding/transporting medium and/or a storage medium. Aguiding/transporting medium may be adapted to carry and/or carry and/orstore signals, in particular electromagnetic signals and/or electricalsignals and/or magnetic signals and/or optical signals. A carriermedium, in particular a guiding/transporting medium, may be adapted toguide such signals to carry them. A carrier medium, in particular aguiding/transporting medium, may comprise the electromagnetic field,e.g. radio waves or microwaves, and/or optically transmissive material,e.g. glass fiber, and/or cable. A storage medium may comprise at leastone of a memory, which may be volatile or non-volatile, a buffer, acache, an optical disc, magnetic memory, flash memory, etc.

A system comprising one or more radio nodes as described herein, inparticular a network node and a user equipment, is described. The systemmay be a wireless communication system, and/or provide and/or representa radio access network.

Moreover, there may be generally considered a method of operating aninformation system, the method comprising providing information.Alternatively, or additionally, an information system adapted forproviding information may be considered. Providing information maycomprise providing information for, and/or to, a target system, whichmay comprise and/or be implemented as radio access network and/or aradio node, in particular a network node or user equipment or terminal.Providing information may comprise transferring and/or streaming and/orsending and/or passing on the information, and/or offering theinformation for such and/or for download, and/or triggering suchproviding, e.g. by triggering a different system or node to streamand/or transfer and/or send and/or pass on the information. Theinformation system may comprise, and/or be connected or connectable to,a target, for example via one or more intermediate systems, e.g. a corenetwork and/or internet and/or private or local network. Information maybe provided utilizing and/or via such intermediate system/s. Providinginformation may be for radio transmission and/or for transmission via anair interface and/or utilizing a RAN or radio node as described herein.Connecting the information system to a target, and/or providinginformation, may be based on a target indication, and/or adaptive to atarget indication. A target indication may indicate the target, and/orone or more parameters of transmission pertaining to the target and/orthe paths or connections over which the information is provided to thetarget. Such parameter/s may in particular pertain to the air interfaceand/or radio access network and/or radio node and/or network node.Example parameters may indicate for example type and/or nature of thetarget, and/or transmission capacity (e.g., data rate) and/or latencyand/or reliability and/or cost, respectively one or more estimatesthereof. The target indication may be provided by the target, ordetermined by the information system, e.g. based on information receivedfrom the target and/or historical information, and/or be provided by auser, for example a user operating the target or a device incommunication with the target, e.g. via the RAN and/or air interface.For example, a user may indicate on a user equipment communicating withthe information system that information is to be provided via a RAN,e.g. by selecting from a selection provided by the information system,for example on a user application or user interface, which may be a webinterface. An information system may comprise one or more informationnodes. An information node may generally comprise processing circuitryand/or communication circuitry. In particular, an information systemand/or an information node may be implemented as a computer and/or acomputer arrangement, e.g. a host computer or host computer arrangementand/or server or server arrangement. In some variants, an interactionserver (e.g., web server) of the information system may provide a userinterface, and based on user input may trigger transmitting and/orstreaming information provision to the user (and/or the target) fromanother server, which may be connected or connectable to the interactionserver and/or be part of the information system or be connected orconnectable thereto. The information may be any kind of data, inparticular data intended for a user of for use at a terminal, e.g. videodata and/or audio data and/or location data and/or interactive dataand/or game-related data and/or environmental data and/or technical dataand/or traffic data and/or vehicular data and/or circumstantial dataand/or operational data. The information provided by the informationsystem may be mapped to, and/or mappable to, and/or be intended formapping to, communication or data signaling and/or one or more datachannels as described herein (which may be signaling or channel/s of anair interface and/or used within a RAN and/or for radio transmission).It may be considered that the information is formatted based on thetarget indication and/or target, e.g. regarding data amount and/or datarate and/or data structure and/or timing, which in particular may bepertaining to a mapping to communication or data signaling and/or a datachannels. Mapping information to data signaling and/or data channel/smay be considered to refer to using the signaling/channel/s to carry thedata, e.g. on higher layers of communication, with thesignaling/channel/s underlying the transmission. A target indicationgenerally may comprise different components, which may have differentsources, and/or which may indicate different characteristics of thetarget and/or communication path/s thereto. A format of information maybe specifically selected, e.g. from a set of different formats, forinformation to be transmitted on an air interface and/or by a RAN asdescribed herein. This may be particularly pertinent since an airinterface may be limited in terms of capacity and/or of predictability,and/or potentially be cost sensitive. The format may be selected to beadapted to the transmission indication, which may in particular indicatethat a RAN or radio node as described herein is in the path (which maybe the indicated and/or planned and/or expected path) of informationbetween the target and the information system. A (communication) path ofinformation may represent the interface/s (e.g., air and/or cableinterfaces) and/or the intermediate system/s (if any), between theinformation system and/or the node providing or transferring theinformation, and the target, over which the information is, or is to be,passed on. A path may be (at least partly) undetermined when a targetindication is provided, and/or the information is provided/transferredby the information system, e.g. if an internet is involved, which maycomprise multiple, dynamically chosen paths. Information and/or a formatused for information may be packet-based, and/or be mapped, and/or bemappable and/or be intended for mapping, to packets. Alternatively, oradditionally, there may be considered a method for operating a targetdevice comprising providing a target indicating to an informationsystem. More alternatively, or additionally, a target device may beconsidered, the target device being adapted for providing a targetindication to an information system. In another approach, there may beconsidered a target indication tool adapted for, and/or comprising anindication module for, providing a target indication to an informationsystem. The target device may generally be a target as described above.A target indication tool may comprise, and/or be implemented as,software and/or application or app, and/or web interface or userinterface, and/or may comprise one or more modules for implementingactions performed and/or controlled by the tool. The tool and/or targetdevice may be adapted for, and/or the method may comprise, receiving auser input, based on which a target indicating may be determined and/orprovided. Alternatively, or additionally, the tool and/or target devicemay be adapted for, and/or the method may comprise, receivinginformation and/or communication signaling carrying information, and/oroperating on, and/or presenting (e.g., on a screen and/or as audio or asother form of indication), information. The information may be based onreceived information and/or communication signaling carryinginformation. Presenting information may comprise processing receivedinformation, e.g. decoding and/or transforming, in particular betweendifferent formats, and/or for hardware used for presenting. Operating oninformation may be independent of or without presenting, and/or proceedor succeed presenting, and/or may be without user interaction or evenuser reception, for example for automatic processes, or target deviceswithout (e.g., regular) user interaction like MTC devices, of forautomotive or transport or industrial use. The information orcommunication signaling may be expected and/or received based on thetarget indication. Presenting and/or operating on information maygenerally comprise one or more processing steps, in particular decodingand/or executing and/or interpreting and/or transforming information.Operating on information may generally comprise relaying and/ortransmitting the information, e.g. on an air interface, which mayinclude mapping the information onto signaling (such mapping maygenerally pertain to one or more layers, e.g. one or more layers of anair interface, e.g. RLC (Radio Link Control) layer and/or MAC layerand/or physical layer/s). The information may be imprinted (or mapped)on communication signaling based on the target indication, which maymake it particularly suitable for use in a RAN (e.g., for a targetdevice like a network node or in particular a UE or terminal). The toolmay generally be adapted for use on a target device, like a UE orterminal. Generally, the tool may provide multiple functionalities, e.g.for providing and/or selecting the target indication, and/or presenting,e.g. video and/or audio, and/or operating on and/or storing receivedinformation. Providing a target indication may comprise transmitting ortransferring the indication as signaling, and/or carried on signaling,in a RAN, for example if the target device is a UE, or the tool for aUE. It should be noted that such provided information may be transferredto the information system via one or more additionally communicationinterfaces and/or paths and/or connections. The target indication may bea higher-layer indication and/or the information provided by theinformation system may be higher-layer information, e.g. applicationlayer or user-layer, in particular above radio layers like transportlayer and physical layer. The target indication may be mapped onphysical layer radio signaling, e.g. related to or on the user-plane,and/or the information may be mapped on physical layer radiocommunication signaling, e.g. related to or on the user-plane (inparticular, in reverse communication directions). The describedapproaches allow a target indication to be provided, facilitatinginformation to be provided in a specific format particularly suitableand/or adapted to efficiently use an air interface. A user input may forexample represent a selection from a plurality of possible transmissionmodes or formats, and/or paths, e.g. in terms of data rate and/orpackaging and/or size of information to be provided by the informationsystem.

In general, a numerology and/or subcarrier spacing may indicate thebandwidth (in frequency domain) of a subcarrier of a carrier, and/or thenumber of subcarriers in a carrier and/or the numbering of thesubcarriers in a carrier. Different numerologies may in particular bedifferent in the bandwidth of a subcarrier. In some variants, all thesubcarriers in a carrier have the same bandwidth associated to them. Thenumerology and/or subcarrier spacing may be different between carriersin particular regarding the subcarrier bandwidth. A symbol time length,and/or a time length of a timing structure pertaining to a carrier maybe dependent on the carrier frequency, and/or the subcarrier spacingand/or the numerology. In particular, different numerologies may havedifferent symbol time lengths.

Signaling may generally comprise one or more symbols and/or signalsand/or messages. A signal may comprise or represent one or more bits. Anindication may represent signaling, and/or be implemented as a signal,or as a plurality of signals. One or more signals may be included inand/or represented by a message. Signaling, in particular controlsignaling, may comprise a plurality of signals and/or messages, whichmay be transmitted on different carriers and/or be associated todifferent signaling processes, e.g. representing and/or pertaining toone or more such processes and/or corresponding information. Anindication may comprise signaling, and/or a plurality of signals and/ormessages and/or may be comprised therein, which may be transmitted ondifferent carriers and/or be associated to different acknowledgementsignaling processes, e.g. representing and/or pertaining to one or moresuch processes. Signaling associated to a channel may be transmittedsuch that represents signaling and/or information for that channel,and/or that the signaling is interpreted by the transmitter and/orreceiver to belong to that channel. Such signaling may generally complywith transmission parameters and/or format/s for the channel.

Reference signaling may be signaling comprising one or more referencesymbols and/or structures. Reference signaling may be adapted forgauging and/or estimating and/or representing transmission conditions,e.g. channel conditions and/or transmission path conditions and/orchannel (or signal or transmission) quality. It may be considered thatthe transmission characteristics (e.g., signal strength and/or formand/or modulation and/or timing) of reference signaling are availablefor both transmitter and receiver of the signaling (e.g., due to beingpredefined and/or configured or configurable and/or being communicated).Different types of reference signaling may be considered, e.g.pertaining to uplink, downlink or sidelink, cell-specific (inparticular, cell-wide, e.g., CRS) or device or user specific (addressedto a specific target or user equipment, e.g., CSI-RS),demodulation-related (e.g., DMRS) and/or signal strength related, e.g.power-related or energy-related or amplitude-related (e.g., SRS or pilotsignaling) and/or phase-related, etc.

An antenna arrangement may comprise one or more antenna elements(radiating elements), which may be combined in antenna arrays. Anantenna array or subarray may comprise one antenna element, or aplurality of antenna elements, which may be arranged e.g. twodimensionally (for example, a panel) or three dimensionally. It may beconsidered that each antenna array or subarray or element is separatelycontrollable, respectively that different antenna arrays arecontrollable separately from each other. A single antennaelement/radiator may be considered the smallest example of a subarray.Examples of antenna arrays comprise one or more multi-antenna panels orone or more individually controllable antenna elements. An antennaarrangement may comprise a plurality of antenna arrays. It may beconsidered that an antenna arrangement is associated to a (specificand/or single) radio node, e.g. a configuring or informing or schedulingradio node, e.g. to be controlled or controllable by the radio node. Anantenna arrangements associated to a UE or terminal may be smaller(e.g., in size and/or number of antenna elements or arrays) than theantenna arrangement associated to a network node. Antenna elements of anantenna arrangement may be configurable for different arrays, e.g. tochange the beam forming characteristics. In particular, antenna arraysmay be formed by combining one or more independently or separatelycontrollable antenna elements or subarrays. The beams may be provided byanalog beamforming, or in some variants by digital beamforming. Theinforming radio nodes may be configured with the manner of beamtransmission, e.g. by transmitting a corresponding indicator orindication, for example as beam identify indication. However, there maybe considered cases in which the informing radio node/s are notconfigured with such information, and/or operate transparently, notknowing the way of beamforming used. An antenna arrangement may beconsidered separately controllable in regard to the phase and/oramplitude/power and/or gain of a signal feed to it for transmission,and/or separately controllable antenna arrangements may comprise anindependent or separate transmit and/or receive unit and/or ADC(Analog-Digital-Converter, alternatively an ADC chain) to convertdigital control information into an analog antenna feed for the wholeantenna arrangement (the ADC may be considered part of, and/or connectedor connectable to, antenna circuitry). A scenario in which each antennaelement is individually controllable may be referred to as digitalbeamforming, whereas a scenario in which larger arrays/subarrays areseparately controllable may be considered an example of analogbeamforming. Hybrid forms may be considered.

Uplink or sidelink signaling may be OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency DivisionMultiple Access) or SC-FDMA (Single Carrier Frequency Division MultipleAccess) signaling. Downlink signaling may in particular be OFDMAsignaling. However, signaling is not limited thereto (Filter-Bank basedsignaling may be considered one alternative).

A radio node may generally be considered a device or node adapted forwireless and/or radio (and/or microwave) frequency communication, and/orfor communication utilizing an air interface, e.g. according to acommunication standard.

A radio node may be a network node, or a user equipment or terminal. Anetwork node may be any radio node of a wireless communication network,e.g. a base station and/or gNodeB (gNB) and/or eNodeB (eNB) and/or relaynode and/or micro/nano/pico/femto node and/or transmission point (TP)and/or access point (AP) and/or other node, in particular for a RAN asdescribed herein.

The terms wireless device, user equipment (UE) and terminal may beconsidered to be interchangeable in the context of this disclosure. Awireless device, user equipment or terminal may represent an end devicefor communication utilizing the wireless communication network, and/orbe implemented as a user equipment according to a standard. Examples ofuser equipments may comprise a phone like a smartphone, a personalcommunication device, a mobile phone or terminal, a computer, inparticular laptop, a sensor or machine with radio capability (and/oradapted for the air interface), in particular for MTC(Machine-Type-Communication, sometimes also referred to M2M,Machine-To-Machine), or a vehicle adapted for wireless communication. Auser equipment or terminal may be mobile or stationary.

A radio node may generally comprise processing circuitry and/or radiocircuitry. A radio node, in particular a network node, may in some casescomprise cable circuitry and/or communication circuitry, with which itmay be connected or connectable to another radio node and/or a corenetwork.

Circuitry may comprise integrated circuitry. Processing circuitry maycomprise one or more processors and/or controllers (e.g.,microcontrollers), and/or ASICs (Application Specific IntegratedCircuitry) and/or FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Array), or similar. Itmay be considered that processing circuitry comprises, and/or is(operatively) connected or connectable to one or more memories or memoryarrangements. A memory arrangement may comprise one or more memories. Amemory may be adapted to store digital information. Examples formemories comprise volatile and non-volatile memory, and/or Random AccessMemory (RAM), and/or Read-Only-Memory (ROM), and/or magnetic and/oroptical memory, and/or flash memory, and/or hard disk memory, and/orEPROM or EEPROM (Erasable Programmable ROM or Electrically ErasableProgrammable ROM).

Radio circuitry may comprise one or more transmitters and/or receiversand/or transceivers (a transceiver may operate or be operable astransmitter and receiver, and/or may comprise joint or separatedcircuitry for receiving and transmitting, e.g. in one package orhousing), and/or may comprise one or more amplifiers and/or oscillatorsand/or filters, and/or may comprise, and/or be connected or connectableto antenna circuitry and/or one or more antennas and/or antenna arrays.An antenna array may comprise one or more antennas, which may bearranged in a dimensional array, e.g. 2D or 3D array, and/or antennapanels. A remote radio head (RRH) may be considered as an example of anantenna array. However, in some variants, a RRH may be also beimplemented as a network node, depending on the kind of circuitry and/orfunctionality implemented therein.

Communication circuitry may comprise radio circuitry and/or cablecircuitry. Communication circuitry generally may comprise one or moreinterfaces, which may be air interface/s and/or cable interface/s and/oroptical interface/s, e.g. laser-based. Interface/s may be in particularpacket-based. Cable circuitry and/or a cable interfaces may comprise,and/or be connected or connectable to, one or more cables (e.g., opticalfiber-based and/or wire-based), which may be directly or indirectly(e.g., via one or more intermediate systems and/or interfaces) beconnected or connectable to a target, e.g. controlled by communicationcircuitry and/or processing circuitry.

Any one or all of the modules disclosed herein may be implemented insoftware and/or firmware and/or hardware. Different modules may beassociated to different components of a radio node, e.g. differentcircuitries or different parts of a circuitry. It may be considered thata module is distributed over different components and/or circuitries. Aprogram product as described herein may comprise the modules related toa device on which the program product is intended (e.g., a userequipment or network node) to be executed (the execution may beperformed on, and/or controlled by the associated circuitry).

A radio access network may be a wireless communication network, and/or aRadio Access Network (RAN) in particular according to a communicationstandard. A communication standard may in particular a standardaccording to 3GPP and/or 5G, e.g. according to NR or LTE, in particularLTE Evolution.

A wireless communication network may be and/or comprise a Radio AccessNetwork (RAN), which may be and/or comprise any kind of cellular and/orwireless radio network, which may be connected or connectable to a corenetwork. The approaches described herein are particularly suitable for a5G network, e.g. LTE Evolution and/or NR (New Radio), respectivelysuccessors thereof. A RAN may comprise one or more network nodes, and/orone or more terminals, and/or one or more radio nodes. A network nodemay in particular be a radio node adapted for radio and/or wirelessand/or cellular communication with one or more terminals. A terminal maybe any device adapted for radio and/or wireless and/or cellularcommunication with or within a RAN, e.g. a user equipment (UE) or mobilephone or smartphone or computing device or vehicular communicationdevice or device for machine-type-communication (MTC), etc. A terminalmay be mobile, or in some cases stationary. A RAN or a wirelesscommunication network may comprise at least one network node and a UE,or at least two radio nodes. There may be generally considered awireless communication network or system, e.g. a RAN or RAN system,comprising at least one radio node, and/or at least one network node andat least one terminal.

Transmitting in downlink may pertain to transmission from the network ornetwork node to the terminal. Transmitting in uplink may pertain totransmission from the terminal to the network or network node.Transmitting in sidelink may pertain to (direct) transmission from oneterminal to another. Uplink, downlink and sidelink (e.g., sidelinktransmission and reception) may be considered communication directions.In some variants, uplink and downlink may also be used to describedwireless communication between network nodes, e.g. for wireless backhauland/or relay communication and/or (wireless) network communication forexample between base stations or similar network nodes, in particularcommunication terminating at such. It may be considered that backhauland/or relay communication and/or network communication is implementedas a form of sidelink or uplink communication or similar thereto.

Control information or a control information message or correspondingsignaling (control signaling) may be transmitted on a control channel,e.g. a physical control channel, which may be a downlink channel or (ora sidelink channel in some cases, e.g. one UE scheduling another UE).For example, control information/allocation information may be signaledby a network node on PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control Channel) and/or aPDSCH (Physical Downlink Shared Channel) and/or a HARQ-specific channel.Acknowledgement signaling, e.g. as a form of control information orsignaling like uplink control information/signaling, may be transmittedby a terminal on a PUCCH (Physical Uplink Control Channel) and/or PUSCH(Physical Uplink Shared Channel) and/or a HARQ-specific channel.Multiple channels may apply for multi-component/multi-carrier indicationor signaling.

Signaling may generally be considered to represent an electromagneticwave structure (e.g., over a time interval and frequency interval),which is intended to convey information to at least one specific orgeneric (e.g., anyone who might pick up the signaling) target. A processof signaling may comprise transmitting the signaling. Transmittingsignaling, in particular control signaling or communication signaling,e.g. comprising or representing acknowledgement signaling and/orresource requesting information, may comprise encoding and/ormodulating. Encoding and/or modulating may comprise error detectioncoding and/or forward error correction encoding and/or scrambling.Receiving control signaling may comprise corresponding decoding and/ordemodulation. Error detection coding may comprise, and/or be based on,parity or checksum approaches, e.g. CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check).Forward error correction coding may comprise and/or be based on forexample turbo coding and/or Reed-Muller coding, and/or polar codingand/or LDPC coding (Low Density Parity Check). The type of coding usedmay be based on the channel (e.g., physical channel) the coded signal isassociated to. A code rate may represent the ratio of the number ofinformation bits before encoding to the number of encoded bits afterencoding, considering that encoding adds coding bits for error detectioncoding and forward error correction. Coded bits may refer to informationbits (also called systematic bits) plus coding bits.

Communication signaling may comprise, and/or represent, and/or beimplemented as, data signaling, and/or user plane signaling.Communication signaling may be associated to a data channel, e.g. aphysical downlink channel or physical uplink channel or physicalsidelink channel, in particular a PDSCH (Physical Downlink SharedChannel) or PSSCH (Physical Sidelink Shared Channel). Generally, a datachannel may be a shared channel or a dedicated channel. Data signalingmay be signaling associated to and/or on a data channel.

An indication generally may explicitly and/or implicitly indicate theinformation it represents and/or indicates. Implicit indication may forexample be based on position and/or resource used for transmission.Explicit indication may for example be based on a parametrization withone or more parameters, and/or one or more index or indices, and/or oneor more bit patterns representing the information. It may in particularbe considered that control signaling as described herein, based on theutilized resource sequence, implicitly indicates the control signalingtype.

A resource element may generally describe the smallest individuallyusable and/or encodable and/or decodable and/or modulatable and/ordemodulatable time-frequency resource, and/or may describe atime-frequency resource covering a symbol time length in time and asubcarrier in frequency. A signal may be allocatable and/or allocated toa resource element. A subcarrier may be a subband of a carrier, e.g. asdefined by a standard. A carrier may define a frequency and/or frequencyband for transmission and/or reception. In some variants, a signal(jointly encoded/modulated) may cover more than one resource elements. Aresource element may generally be as defined by a correspondingstandard, e.g. NR or LTE. As symbol time length and/or subcarrierspacing (and/or numerology) may be different between different symbolsand/or subcarriers, different resource elements may have differentextension (length/width) in time and/or frequency domain, in particularresource elements pertaining to different carriers.

A resource generally may represent a time-frequency and/or coderesource, on which signaling, e.g. according to a specific format, maybe communicated, for example transmitted and/or received, and/or beintended for transmission and/or reception.

A border symbol may generally represent a starting symbol or an endingsymbol for transmitting and/or receiving. A starting symbol may inparticular be a starting symbol of uplink or sidelink signaling, forexample control signaling or data signaling. Such signaling may be on adata channel or control channel, e.g. a physical channel, in particulara physical uplink shared channel (like PUSCH) or a sidelink data orshared channel, or a physical uplink control channel (like PUCCH) or asidelink control channel. If the starting symbol is associated tocontrol signaling (e.g., on a control channel), the control signalingmay be in response to received signaling (in sidelink or downlink), e.g.representing acknowledgement signaling associated thereto, which may beHARQ or ARQ signaling. An ending symbol may represent an ending symbol(in time) of downlink or sidelink transmission or signaling, which maybe intended or scheduled for the radio node or user equipment. Suchdownlink signaling may in particular be data signaling, e.g. on aphysical downlink channel like a shared channel, e.g. a PDSCH (PhysicalDownlink Shared Channel). A starting symbol may be determined based on,and/or in relation to, such an ending symbol.

Configuring a radio node, in particular a terminal or user equipment,may refer to the radio node being adapted or caused or set and/orinstructed to operate according to the configuration. Configuring may bedone by another device, e.g., a network node (for example, a radio nodeof the network like a base station or eNodeB) or network, in which caseit may comprise transmitting configuration data to the radio node to beconfigured. Such configuration data may represent the configuration tobe configured and/or comprise one or more instruction pertaining to aconfiguration, e.g. a configuration for transmitting and/or receiving onallocated resources, in particular frequency resources. A radio node mayconfigure itself, e.g., based on configuration data received from anetwork or network node. A network node may utilize, and/or be adaptedto utilize, its circuitry/ies for configuring. Allocation informationmay be considered a form of configuration data. Configuration data maycomprise and/or be represented by configuration information, and/or oneor more corresponding indications and/or message/s

Generally, configuring may include determining configuration datarepresenting the configuration and providing, e.g. transmitting, it toone or more other nodes (parallel and/or sequentially), which maytransmit it further to the radio node (or another node, which may berepeated until it reaches the wireless device). Alternatively, oradditionally, configuring a radio node, e.g., by a network node or otherdevice, may include receiving configuration data and/or data pertainingto configuration data, e.g., from another node like a network node,which may be a higher-level node of the network, and/or transmittingreceived configuration data to the radio node. Accordingly, determininga configuration and transmitting the configuration data to the radionode may be performed by different network nodes or entities, which maybe able to communicate via a suitable interface, e.g., an X2 interfacein the case of LTE or a corresponding interface for NR. Configuring aterminal may comprise scheduling downlink and/or uplink transmissionsfor the terminal, e.g. downlink data and/or downlink control signalingand/or DCI and/or uplink control or data or communication signaling, inparticular acknowledgement signaling, and/or configuring resourcesand/or a resource pool therefor.

A resource structure may be considered to be neighbored in frequencydomain by another resource structure, if they share a common borderfrequency, e.g. one as an upper frequency border and the other as alower frequency border. Such a border may for example be represented bythe upper end of a bandwidth assigned to a subcarrier n, which alsorepresents the lower end of a bandwidth assigned to a subcarrier n+1. Aresource structure may be considered to be neighbored in time domain byanother resource structure, if they share a common border time, e.g. oneas an upper (or right in the figures) border and the other as a lower(or left in the figures) border. Such a border may for example berepresented by the end of the symbol time interval assigned to a symboln, which also represents the beginning of a symbol time intervalassigned to a symbol n+1.

Generally, a resource structure being neighbored by another resourcestructure in a domain may also be referred to as abutting and/orbordering the other resource structure in the domain.

A resource structure may general represent a structure in time and/orfrequency domain, in particular representing a time interval and afrequency interval. A resource structure may comprise and/or becomprised of resource elements, and/or the time interval of a resourcestructure may comprise and/or be comprised of symbol time interval/s,and/or the frequency interval of a resource structure may compriseand/or be comprised of subcarrier/s. A resource element may beconsidered an example for a resource structure, a slot or mini-slot or aPhysical Resource Block (PRB) or parts thereof may be considered others.A resource structure may be associated to a specific channel, e.g. aPUSCH or PUCCH, in particular resource structure smaller than a slot orPRB.

Examples of a resource structure in frequency domain comprise abandwidth or band, or a bandwidth part. A bandwidth part may be a partof a bandwidth available for a radio node for communicating, e.g. due tocircuitry and/or configuration and/or regulations and/or a standard. Abandwidth part may be configured or configurable to a radio node. Insome variants, a bandwidth part may be the part of a bandwidth used forcommunicating, e.g. transmitting and/or receiving, by a radio node. Thebandwidth part may be smaller than the bandwidth (which may be a devicebandwidth defined by the circuitry/configuration of a device, and/or asystem bandwidth, e.g. available for a RAN). It may be considered that abandwidth part comprises one or more resource blocks or resource blockgroups, in particular one or more PRBs or PRB groups. A bandwidth partmay pertain to, and/or comprise, one or more carriers.

A carrier may generally represent a frequency range or band and/orpertain to a central frequency and an associated frequency interval. Itmay be considered that a carrier comprises a plurality of subcarriers. Acarrier may have assigned to it a central frequency or center frequencyinterval, e.g. represented by one or more subcarriers (to eachsubcarrier there may be generally assigned a frequency bandwidth orinterval). Different carriers may be non-overlapping, and/or may beneighboring in frequency domain.

It should be noted that the term “radio” in this disclosure may beconsidered to pertain to wireless communication in general, and may alsoinclude wireless communication utilizing microwave and/or millimeterand/or other frequencies, in particular between 100 MHz or 1 GHz, and100 GHz or 20 or 10 GHz. Such communication may utilize one or morecarriers.

A radio node, in particular a network node or a terminal, may generallybe any device adapted for transmitting and/or receiving radio and/orwireless signals and/or data, in particular communication data, inparticular on at least one carrier. The at least one carrier maycomprise a carrier accessed based on a LBT procedure (which may becalled LBT carrier), e.g., an unlicensed carrier. It may be consideredthat the carrier is part of a carrier aggregate.

Receiving or transmitting on a cell or carrier may refer to receiving ortransmitting utilizing a frequency (band) or spectrum associated to thecell or carrier. A cell may generally comprise and/or be defined by orfor one or more carriers, in particular at least one carrier for ULcommunication/transmission (called UL carrier) and at least one carrierfor DL communication/transmission (called DL carrier). It may beconsidered that a cell comprises different numbers of UL carriers and DLcarriers. Alternatively, or additionally, a cell may comprise at leastone carrier for UL communication/transmission and DLcommunication/transmission, e.g., in TDD-based approaches.

A channel may generally be a logical, transport or physical channel. Achannel may comprise and/or be arranged on one or more carriers, inparticular a plurality of subcarriers. A channel carrying and/or forcarrying control signaling/control information may be considered acontrol channel, in particular if it is a physical layer channel and/orif it carries control plane information. Analogously, a channel carryingand/or for carrying data signaling/user information may be considered adata channel, in particular if it is a physical layer channel and/or ifit carries user plane information. A channel may be defined for aspecific communication direction, or for two complementary communicationdirections (e.g., UL and DL, or sidelink in two directions), in whichcase it may be considered to have two component channels, one for eachdirection. Examples of channels comprise a channel for low latencyand/or high reliability transmission, in particular a channel forUltra-Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC), which may be forcontrol and/or data.

In general, a symbol may represent and/or be associated to a symbol timelength, which may be dependent on the carrier and/or subcarrier spacingand/or numerology of the associated carrier. Accordingly, a symbol maybe considered to indicate a time interval having a symbol time length inrelation to frequency domain. A symbol time length may be dependent on acarrier frequency and/or bandwidth and/or numerology and/or subcarrierspacing of, or associated to, a symbol. Accordingly, different symbolsmay have different symbol time lengths. In particular, numerologies withdifferent subcarrier spacings may have different symbol time length.Generally, a symbol time length may be based on, and/or include, a guardtime interval or cyclic extension, e.g. prefix or postfix.

A sidelink may generally represent a communication channel (or channelstructure) between two UEs and/or terminals, in which data istransmitted between the participants (UEs and/or terminals) via thecommunication channel, e.g. directly and/or without being relayed via anetwork node. A sidelink may be established only and/or directly via airinterface/s of the participant, which may be directly linked via thesidelink communication channel. In some variants, sidelink communicationmay be performed without interaction by a network node, e.g. on fixedlydefined resources and/or on resources negotiated between theparticipants. Alternatively, or additionally, it may be considered thata network node provides some control functionality, e.g. by configuringresources, in particular one or more resource pool/s, for sidelinkcommunication, and/or monitoring a sidelink, e.g. for charging purposes.

Sidelink communication may also be referred to as device-to-device (D2D)communication, and/or in some cases as ProSe (Proximity Services)communication, e.g. in the context of LTE. A sidelink may be implementedin the context of V2x communication (Vehicular communication), e.g. V2V(Vehicle-to-Vehicle), V2I (Vehicle-to-Infrastructure) and/or V2P(Vehicle-to-Person). Any device adapted for sidelink communication maybe considered a user equipment or terminal.

A sidelink communication channel (or structure) may comprise one or more(e.g., physical or logical) channels, e.g. a PSCCH (Physical SidelinkControl CHannel, which may for example carry control information like anacknowledgement position indication, and/or a PSSCH (Physical SidelinkShared CHannel, which for example may carry data and/or acknowledgementsignaling). It may be considered that a sidelink communication channel(or structure) pertains to and/or used one or more carrier/s and/orfrequency range/s associated to, and/or being used by, cellularcommunication, e.g. according to a specific license and/or standard.Participants may share a (physical) channel and/or resources, inparticular in frequency domain and/or related to a frequency resourcelike a carrier) of a sidelink, such that two or more participantstransmit thereon, e.g. simultaneously, and/or time-shifted, and/or theremay be associated specific channels and/or resources to specificparticipants, so that for example only one participant transmits on aspecific channel or on a specific resource or specific resources, e.g.,in frequency domain and/or related to one or more carriers orsubcarriers.

A sidelink may comply with, and/or be implemented according to, aspecific standard, e.g. a LTE-based standard and/or NR. A sidelink mayutilize TDD (Time Division Duplex) and/or FDD (Frequency DivisionDuplex) technology, e.g. as configured by a network node, and/orpreconfigured and/or negotiated between the participants. A userequipment may be considered to be adapted for sidelink communication ifit, and/or its radio circuitry and/or processing circuitry, is adaptedfor utilizing a sidelink, e.g. on one or more frequency ranges and/orcarriers and/or in one or more formats, in particular according to aspecific standard. It may be generally considered that a Radio AccessNetwork is defined by two participants of a sidelink communication.Alternatively, or additionally, a Radio Access Network may berepresented, and/or defined with, and/or be related to a network nodeand/or communication with such a node.

Communication or communicating may generally comprise transmittingand/or receiving signaling. Communication on a sidelink (or sidelinksignaling) may comprise utilizing the sidelink for communication(respectively, for signaling). Sidelink transmission and/or transmittingon a sidelink may be considered to comprise transmission utilizing thesidelink, e.g. associated resources and/or transmission formats and/orcircuitry and/or the air interface. Sidelink reception and/or receivingon a sidelink may be considered to comprise reception utilizing thesidelink, e.g. associated resources and/or transmission formats and/orcircuitry and/or the air interface. Sidelink control information (e.g.,SCI) may generally be considered to comprise control informationtransmitted utilizing a sidelink.

Generally, carrier aggregation (CA) may refer to the concept of a radioconnection and/or communication link between a wireless and/or cellularcommunication network and/or network node and a terminal or on asidelink comprising a plurality of carriers for at least one directionof transmission (e.g. DL and/or UL), as well as to the aggregate ofcarriers. A corresponding communication link may be referred to ascarrier aggregated communication link or CA communication link; carriersin a carrier aggregate may be referred to as component carriers (CC). Insuch a link, data may be transmitted over more than one of the carriersand/or all the carriers of the carrier aggregation (the aggregate ofcarriers). A carrier aggregation may comprise one (or more) dedicatedcontrol carriers and/or primary carriers (which may e.g. be referred toas primary component carrier or PCC), over which control information maybe transmitted, wherein the control information may refer to the primarycarrier and other carriers, which may be referred to as secondarycarriers (or secondary component carrier, SCC). However, in someapproaches, control information may be sent over more than one carrierof an aggregate, e.g. one or more PCCs and one PCC and one or more SCCs.

A transmission may generally pertain to a specific channel and/orspecific resources, in particular with a starting symbol and endingsymbol in time, covering the interval therebetween. A scheduledtransmission may be a transmission scheduled and/or expected and/or forwhich resources are scheduled or provided or reserved. However, notevery scheduled transmission has to be realized. For example, ascheduled downlink transmission may not be received, or a scheduleduplink transmission may not be transmitted due to power limitations, orother influences (e.g., a channel on an unlicensed carrier beingoccupied). A transmission may be scheduled for a transmission timingsubstructure (e.g., a mini-slot, and/or covering only a part of atransmission timing structure) within a transmission timing structurelike a slot. A border symbol may be indicative of a symbol in thetransmission timing structure at which the transmission starts or ends.

Predefined in the context of this disclosure may refer to the relatedinformation being defined for example in a standard, and/or beingavailable without specific configuration from a network or network node,e.g. stored in memory, for example independent of being configured.Configured or configurable may be considered to pertain to thecorresponding information being set/configured, e.g. by the network or anetwork node.

A configuration or schedule, like a mini-slot configuration and/orstructure configuration, may schedule transmissions, e.g. for thetime/transmissions it is valid, and/or transmissions may be scheduled byseparate signaling or separate configuration, e.g. separate RRCsignaling and/or downlink control information signaling. Thetransmission/s scheduled may represent signaling to be transmitted bythe device for which it is scheduled, or signaling to be received by thedevice for which it is scheduled, depending on which side of acommunication the device is. It should be noted that downlink controlinformation or specifically DCI signaling may be considered physicallayer signaling, in contrast to higher layer signaling like MAC (MediumAccess Control) signaling or RRC layer signaling. The higher the layerof signaling is, the less frequent/the more time/resource consuming itmay be considered, at least partially due to the information containedin such signaling having to be passed on through several layers, eachlayer requiring processing and handling.

A scheduled transmission, and/or transmission timing structure like amini-slot or slot, may pertain to a specific channel, in particular aphysical uplink shared channel, a physical uplink control channel, or aphysical downlink shared channel, e.g. PUSCH, PUCCH or PDSCH, and/or maypertain to a specific cell and/or carrier aggregation. A correspondingconfiguration, e.g. scheduling configuration or symbol configuration maypertain to such channel, cell and/or carrier aggregation. It may beconsidered that the scheduled transmission represents transmission on aphysical channel, in particular a shared physical channel, for example aphysical uplink shared channel or physical downlink shared channel. Forsuch channels, semi-persistent configuring may be particularly suitable.

Generally, a configuration may be a configuration indicating timing,and/or be represented or configured with corresponding configurationdata. A configuration may be embedded in, and/or comprised in, a messageor configuration or corresponding data, which may indicate and/orschedule resources, in particular semi-persistently and/orsemi-statically.

A control region of a transmission timing structure may be an intervalin time for intended or scheduled or reserved for control signaling, inparticular downlink control signaling, and/or for a specific controlchannel, e.g. a physical downlink control channel like PDCCH. Theinterval may comprise, and/or consist of, a number of symbols in time,which may be configured or configurable, e.g. by (UE-specific) dedicatedsignaling (which may be single-cast, for example addressed to orintended for a specific UE), e.g. on a PDCCH, or RRC signaling, or on amulticast or broadcast channel. In general, the transmission timingstructure may comprise a control region covering a configurable numberof symbols. It may be considered that in general the border symbol isconfigured to be after the control region in time.

The duration of a symbol (symbol time length or interval) of thetransmission timing structure may generally be dependent on a numerologyand/or carrier, wherein the numerology and/or carrier may beconfigurable. The numerology may be the numerology to be used for thescheduled transmission.

Scheduling a device, or for a device, and/or related transmission orsignaling, may be considered comprising, or being a form of, configuringthe device with resources, and/or of indicating to the device resources,e.g. to use for communicating. Scheduling may in particular pertain to atransmission timing structure, or a substructure thereof (e.g., a slotor a mini-slot, which may be considered a substructure of a slot). Itmay be considered that a border symbol may be identified and/ordetermined in relation to the transmission timing structure even if fora substructure being scheduled, e.g. if an underlying timing grid isdefined based on the transmission timing structure. Signaling indicatingscheduling may comprise corresponding scheduling information and/or beconsidered to represent or contain configuration data indicating thescheduled transmission and/or comprising scheduling information. Suchconfiguration data or signaling may be considered a resourceconfiguration or scheduling configuration. It should be noted that sucha configuration (in particular as single message) in some cases may notbe complete without other configuration data, e.g. configured with othersignaling, e.g. higher layer signaling. In particular, the symbolconfiguration may be provided in addition to scheduling/resourceconfiguration to identify exactly which symbols are assigned to ascheduled transmission. A scheduling (or resource) configuration mayindicate transmission timing structure/s and/or resource amount (e.g.,in number of symbols or length in time) for a scheduled transmission.

A scheduled transmission may be transmission scheduled, e.g. by thenetwork or network node. Transmission may in this context may be uplink(UL) or downlink (DL) or sidelink (SL) transmission. A device, e.g. auser equipment, for which the scheduled transmission is scheduled, mayaccordingly be scheduled to receive (e.g., in DL or SL), or to transmit(e.g. in UL or SL) the scheduled transmission. Scheduling transmissionmay in particular be considered to comprise configuring a scheduleddevice with resource/s for this transmission, and/or informing thedevice that the transmission is intended and/or scheduled for someresources. A transmission may be scheduled to cover a time interval, inparticular a successive number of symbols, which may form a continuousinterval in time between (and including) a starting symbol and an endingsymbol. The starting symbol and the ending symbol of a (e.g., scheduled)transmission may be within the same transmission timing structure, e.g.the same slot. However, in some cases, the ending symbol may be in alater transmission timing structure than the starting symbol, inparticular a structure following in time. To a scheduled transmission, aduration may be associated and/or indicated, e.g. in a number of symbolsor associated time intervals. In some variants, there may be differenttransmissions scheduled in the same transmission timing structure. Ascheduled transmission may be considered to be associated to a specificchannel, e.g. a shared channel like PUSCH or PDSCH.

In the context of this disclosure, there may be distinguished betweendynamically scheduled or aperiodic transmission and/or configuration,and semi-static or semi-persistent or periodic transmission and/orconfiguration. The term “dynamic” or similar terms may generally pertainto configuration/transmission valid and/or scheduled and/or configuredfor (relatively) short timescales and/or a (e.g., predefined and/orconfigured and/or limited and/or definite) number of occurrences and/ortransmission timing structures, e.g. one or more transmission timingstructures like slots or slot aggregations, and/or for one or more(e.g., specific number) of transmission/occurrences. Dynamicconfiguration may be based on low-level signaling, e.g. controlsignaling on the physical layer and/or MAC layer, in particular in theform of DCI or SCI. Periodic/semi-static may pertain to longertimescales, e.g. several slots and/or more than one frame, and/or anon-defined number of occurrences, e.g., until a dynamic configurationcontradicts, or until a new periodic configuration arrives. A periodicor semi-static configuration may be based on, and/or be configured with,higher-layer signaling, in particular RCL layer signaling and/or RRCsignaling and/or MAC signaling.

A transmission timing structure may comprise a plurality of symbols,and/or define an interval comprising several symbols (respectively theirassociated time intervals). In the context of this disclosure, it shouldbe noted that a reference to a symbol for ease of reference may beinterpreted to refer to the time domain projection or time interval ortime component or duration or length in time of the symbol, unless it isclear from the context that the frequency domain component also has tobe considered. Examples of transmission timing structures include slot,subframe, mini-slot (which also may be considered a substructure of aslot), slot aggregation (which may comprise a plurality of slots and maybe considered a superstructure of a slot), respectively their timedomain component. A transmission timing structure may generally comprisea plurality of symbols defining the time domain extension (e.g.,interval or length or duration) of the transmission timing structure,and arranged neighboring to each other in a numbered sequence. A timingstructure (which may also be considered or implemented assynchronization structure) may be defined by a succession of suchtransmission timing structures, which may for example define a timinggrid with symbols representing the smallest grid structures. Atransmission timing structure, and/or a border symbol or a scheduledtransmission may be determined or scheduled in relation to such a timinggrid. A transmission timing structure of reception may be thetransmission timing structure in which the scheduling control signalingis received, e.g. in relation to the timing grid. A transmission timingstructure may in particular be a slot or subframe or in some cases, amini-slot.

Feedback signaling may be considered a form or control signaling, e.g.uplink or sidelink control signaling, like UCI (Uplink ControlInformation) signaling or SCI (Sidelink Control Information) signaling.Feedback signaling may in particular comprise and/or representacknowledgement signaling and/or acknowledgement information and/ormeasurement reporting.

Acknowledgement information may comprise an indication of a specificvalue or state for an acknowledgement signaling process, e.g. ACK orNACK or DTX. Such an indication may for example represent a bit or bitvalue or bit pattern or an information switch. Different levels ofacknowledgement information, e.g. providing differentiated informationabout quality of reception and/or error position in received dataelement/s may be considered and/or represented by control signaling.Acknowledgment information may generally indicate acknowledgment ornon-acknowledgment or non-reception or different levels thereof, e.g.representing ACK or NACK or DTX. Acknowledgment information may pertainto one acknowledgement signaling process. Acknowledgement signaling maycomprise acknowledgement information pertaining to one or moreacknowledgement signaling processes, in particular one or more HARQ orARQ processes. It may be considered that to each acknowledgmentsignaling process the acknowledgement information pertains to, aspecific number of bits of the information size of the control signalingis assigned. Measurement reporting signaling may comprise measurementinformation.

Signaling may generally comprise one or more symbols and/or signalsand/or messages. A signal may comprise and/or represent one or morebits, which may be modulated into a common modulated signal. Anindication may represent signaling, and/or be implemented as a signal,or as a plurality of signals. One or more signals may be included inand/or represented by a message. Signaling, in particular controlsignaling, may comprise a plurality of signals and/or messages, whichmay be transmitted on different carriers and/or be associated todifferent acknowledgement signaling processes, e.g. representing and/orpertaining to one or more such processes. An indication may comprisesignaling and/or a plurality of signals and/or messages and/or may becomprised therein, which may be transmitted on different carriers and/orbe associated to different acknowledgement signaling processes, e.g.representing and/or pertaining to one or more such processes.

Signaling utilizing, and/or on and/or associated to, resources or aresource structure may be signaling covering the resources or structure,signaling on the associated frequency/ies and/or in the associated timeinterval/s. It may be considered that a signaling resource structurecomprises and/or encompasses one or more substructures, which may beassociated to one or more different channels and/or types of signalingand/or comprise one or more holes (resource element/s not scheduled fortransmissions or reception of transmissions). A resource substructure,e.g. a feedback resource structure, may generally be continuous in timeand/or frequency, within the associated intervals. It may be consideredthat a substructure, in particular a feedback resource structure,represents a rectangle filled with one or more resource elements intime/frequency space. However, in some cases, a resource structure orsubstructure, in particular a frequency resource range, may represent anon-continuous pattern of resources in one or more domains, e.g. timeand/or frequency. The resource elements of a substructure may bescheduled for associated signaling.

It should generally be noted that the number of bits or a bit rateassociated to specific signaling that can be carried on a resourceelement may be based on a modulation and coding scheme (MCS). Thus, bitsor a bit rate may be seen as a form of resources representing a resourcestructure or range in frequency and/or time, e.g. depending on MCS. TheMCS may be configured or configurable, e.g. by control signaling, e.g.DCI or MAC (Medium Access Control) or RRC (Radio Resource Control)signaling. Different formats of for control information may beconsidered, e.g. different formats for a control channel like a PhysicalUplink Control Channel (PUCCH). PUCCH may carry control information orcorresponding control signaling, e.g. Uplink Control Information (UCI).UCI may comprise feedback signaling, and/or acknowledgement signalinglike HARQ feedback (ACK/NACK), and/or measurement information signaling,e.g. comprising Channel Quality Information (CQI), and/or SchedulingRequest (SR) signaling. One of the supported PUCCH formats may be short,and may e.g. occur at the end of a slot interval, and/or multiplexedand/or neighboring to PUSCH. Similar control information may be providedon a sidelink, e.g. as Sidelink Control Information (SCI), in particularon a (physical) sidelink control channel, like a (P)SCCH.

A code block may be considered a subelement of a data element like atransport block, e.g., a transport block may comprise a one or aplurality of code blocks.

A scheduling assignment may be configured with control signaling, e.g.downlink control signaling or sidelink control signaling. Such controlssignaling may be considered to represent and/or comprise schedulingsignaling, which may indicate scheduling information. A schedulingassignment may be considered scheduling information indicatingscheduling of signaling/transmission of signaling, in particularpertaining to signaling received or to be received by the deviceconfigured with the scheduling assignment. It may be considered that ascheduling assignment may indicate data (e.g., data block or elementand/or channel and/or data stream) and/or an (associated)acknowledgement signaling process and/or resource/s on which the data(or, in some cases, reference signaling) is to be received and/orindicate resource/s for associated feedback signaling, and/or a feedbackresource range on which associated feedback signaling is to betransmitted. Transmission associated to an acknowledgement signalingprocess, and/or the associated resources or resource structure, may beconfigured and/or scheduled, for example by a scheduling assignment.Different scheduling assignments may be associated to differentacknowledgement signaling processes. A scheduling assignment may beconsidered an example of downlink control information or signaling, e.g.if transmitted by a network node and/or provided on downlink (orsidelink control information if transmitted using a sidelink and/or by auser equipment).

A scheduling grant (e.g., uplink grant) may represent control signaling(e.g., downlink control information/signaling). It may be consideredthat a scheduling grant configures the signaling resource range and/orresources for uplink (or sidelink) signaling, in particular uplinkcontrol signaling and/or feedback signaling, e.g. acknowledgementsignaling. Configuring the signaling resource range and/or resources maycomprise configuring or scheduling it for transmission by the configuredradio node. A scheduling grant may indicate a channel and/or possiblechannels to be used/usable for the feedback signaling, in particularwhether a shared channel like a PUSCH may be used/is to be used. Ascheduling grant may generally indicate uplink resource/s and/or anuplink channel and/or a format for control information pertaining toassociated scheduling assignments. Both grant and assignment/s may beconsidered (downlink or sidelink) control information, and/or beassociated to, and/or transmitted with, different messages.

A resource structure in frequency domain (which may be referred to asfrequency interval and/or range) may be represented by a subcarriergrouping. A subcarrier grouping may comprise one or more subcarriers,each of which may represent a specific frequency interval, and/orbandwidth. The bandwidth of a subcarrier, the length of the interval infrequency domain, may be determined by the subcarrier spacing and/ornumerology. The subcarriers may be arranged such that each subcarrierneighbors at least one other subcarrier of the grouping in frequencyspace (for grouping sizes larger than 1). The subcarriers of a groupingmay be associated to the same carrier, e.g. configurably or configuredof predefined. A physical resource block may be consideredrepresentative of a grouping (in frequency domain). A subcarriergrouping may be considered to be associated to a specific channel and/ortype of signaling, it transmission for such channel or signaling isscheduled and/or transmitted and/or intended and/or configured for atleast one, or a plurality, or all subcarriers in the grouping. Suchassociation may be time-dependent, e.g. configured or configurable orpredefined, and/or dynamic or semi-static. The association may bedifferent for different devices, e.g. configured or configurable orpredefined, and/or dynamic or semi-static. Patterns of subcarriergroupings may be considered, which may comprise one or more subcarriergroupings (which may be associated to same or differentsignalings/channels), and/or one or more groupings without associatedsignaling (e.g., as seen from a specific device). An example of apattern is a comb, for which between pairs of groupings associated tothe same signaling/channel there are arranged one or more groupingsassociated to one or more different channels and/or signaling types,and/or one or more groupings without associated channel/signaling).

Example types of signaling comprise signaling of a specificcommunication direction, in particular, uplink signaling, downlinksignaling, sidelink signaling, as well as reference signaling (e.g., SRSor CRS or CSI-RS), communication signaling, control signaling, and/orsignaling associated to a specific channel like PUSCH, PDSCH, PUCCH,PDCCH, PSCCH, PSSCH, etc.).

Throughout this disclosure, the term “user equipment” may be consideredan example of a “receiving radio node”, and these terms may be usedinterchangeably. Feature/s assigned to a user equipment may also beimplemented in a receiving radio node and vice versa, unless explicitlystated otherwise. A receiving radio node may in particular be a userequipment or terminal. However, in some scenarios, e.g. backhaul orrelay scenarios, a receiving radio node may be a network node, inparticular a base station and/or gNodeB and/or relay node ortransmission point. The term “network node” may be considered an examplefor a “signaling radio node”, and the terms may be interchanged. Anetwork node may be an example of a signaling radio node. However, insome scenarios, e.g. sidelink scenarios, the signaling radio node may bea user equipment or terminal. A signaling radio node arrangement, alsoreferred to as network node arrangement, may comprise one or more radionodes, in particular network nodes, which may be of the same ordifferent types. Different nodes of the arrangement may be adapted for,and/or provide, different functionalities described herein. A signalingradio node arrangement may in some variants represent a radio accessnetwork, and/or a heterogenous network (HetNet), and/or provide dual (ormultiple) connectivity, e.g. comprising an anchor node and a boosternode, and/or one or more of each or either. The radio nodes of a nodearrangement may comprise suitable interfaces for communication betweenthem, e.g. communication interfaces and/or corresponding circuitry.There may generally be considered a signal radio node arrangement,comprising one or more node between which the features and/orfunctionalities of a signaling radio node as described herein may bedistributed.

In this disclosure, for purposes of explanation and not limitation,specific details are set forth (such as particular network functions,processes and signaling steps) in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the technique presented herein. It will be apparent toone skilled in the art that the present concepts and aspects may bepracticed in other variants and variants that depart from these specificdetails.

For example, the concepts and variants are partially described in thecontext of Long Term Evolution (LTE) or LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) or NewRadio mobile or wireless communications technologies; however, this doesnot rule out the use of the present concepts and aspects in connectionwith additional or alternative mobile communication technologies such asthe Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). While describedvariants may pertain to certain Technical Specifications (TSs) of theThird Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), it will be appreciated thatthe present approaches, concepts and aspects could also be realized inconnection with different Performance Management (PM) specifications.

Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the services,functions and steps explained herein may be implemented using softwarefunctioning in conjunction with a programmed microprocessor, or using anApplication Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Digital SignalProcessor (DSP), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or generalpurpose computer. It will also be appreciated that while the variantsdescribed herein are elucidated in the context of methods and devices,the concepts and aspects presented herein may also be embodied in aprogram product as well as in a system comprising control circuitry,e.g. a computer processor and a memory coupled to the processor, whereinthe memory is encoded with one or more programs or program products thatexecute the services, functions and steps disclosed herein.

It is believed that the advantages of the aspects and variants presentedherein will be fully understood from the foregoing description, and itwill be apparent that various changes may be made in the form,constructions and arrangement of the exemplary aspects thereof withoutdeparting from the scope of the concepts and aspects described herein orwithout sacrificing all of its advantageous effects. The aspectspresented herein can be varied in many ways.

Some useful abbreviations comprise

Abbreviation Explanation ACK/NACK Acknowledgment/NegativeAcknowledgement ARQ Automatic Repeat reQuest CAZAC Constant AmplitudeZero Cross Correlation CBG Code Block Group CDM Code Division MultiplexCM Cubic Metric CQI Channel Quality Information CRC Cyclic RedundancyCheck CRS Common reference signal CSI Channel State Information CSI-RSChannel state information reference signal DAI Downlink AssignmentIndicator DCI Downlink Control Information DFT Discrete FourierTransform DM(-)RS Demodulation reference signal(ing) FDM FrequencyDivision Multiplex HARQ Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request IFFT InverseFast Fourier Transform MBB Mobile Broadband MCS Modulation and CodingScheme MIMO Multiple-input-multiple-output MRC Maximum-ratio combiningMRT Maximum-ratio transmission MU-MIMO Multiusermultiple-input-multiple-output OFDM/A Orthogonal Frequency DivisionMultiplex/ Multiple Access PAPR Peak to Average Power Ratio PDCCHPhysical Downlink Control Channel PDSCH Physical Downlink Shared ChannelPRACH Physical Random Access CHannel PRB Physical Resource Block PUCCHPhysical Uplink Control Channel PUSCH Physical Uplink Shared Channel(P)SCCH (Physical) Sidelink Control Channel (P)SSCH (Physical) SidelinkShared Channel RB Resource Block RRC Radio Resource Control SC-FDM/ASingle Carrier Frequency Division Multiplex/ Multiple Access SCISidelink Control Information SINR Signal-to-interference-plus-noiseratio SIR Signal-to-interference ratio SNR Signal-to-noise-ratio SRScheduling Request SRS Sounding Reference Signal(ing) SVD Singular-valuedecomposition TDM Time Division Multiplex UCI Uplink Control InformationUE User Equipment URLLC Ultra Low Latency High Reliability CommunicationVL-MIMO Very-large multiple-input-multiple-output ZF Zero Forcing

Abbreviations may be considered to follow 3GPP usage if applicable.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method of operating a network node in aradio access network, the method comprising: transmitting a resourceallocation message comprising a bit field, the resource allocationmessage being transmitted for reception in a common search space in afirst bandwidth part with a first unit size of resource allocation, thebit field mapping to resources to be allocated in a second bandwidthpart with a second unit size of resource allocation.
 2. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the first unit size is different from thesecond unit size.
 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein a unitsize is represented in size of a Physical Resource Block Group having NPhysical Resource Blocks.
 4. The method according to claim 1, whereinthe bit field indicates one of: a bit map mapped to Physical ResourceBlock Groups beginning at a reference Physical Resource Block Group; anda range of Physical Resource Block Groups.
 5. The method according toclaim 1, wherein it is indicated that the bit field allocates resourcesbased on the second unit size.
 6. The method according to claim 1,wherein at least the first and second bandwidth parts are associated tothe same carrier.
 7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the bitfield allocated resources for a specific channel.
 8. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the resource allocation message isaddressed to a plurality of user equipments.
 9. The method according toclaim 1, wherein the bit field allocates resources in a third bandwidthpart with a third unit size of resource allocation.
 10. A network nodefor a radio access network, the network node comprising processingcircuitry configured to cause the network node to: transmit a resourceallocation message comprising a bit field, the resource allocationmessage being transmitted for reception in a common search space in afirst bandwidth part with a first unit size of resource allocation, thebit field mapping to resources to be allocated in a second bandwidthpart with a second unit size of resource allocation.
 11. A method ofoperating a user equipment in a radio access network, the methodcomprising: receiving a resource allocation message, the resourceallocation message comprising a bit field, the resource allocationmessage being received in a common search space in a first bandwidthpart with a first unit size of resource allocation, the bit fieldmapping to resources to be allocated in a second bandwidth part with asecond unit size of resource allocation; and communicating on the secondbandwidth part utilizing the second unit size based on the bit field.12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the first unit size isdifferent from the second unit size.
 13. The method according to claim11, wherein a unit size is represented in size of a Physical ResourceBlock Group having N Physical Resource Blocks.
 14. The method accordingto claim 11, wherein the bit field indicates one of: a bit map mapped toPhysical Resource Block Groups beginning at a reference PhysicalResource Block Group; and a range of Physical Resource Block Groups. 15.The method according to claim 11, wherein it is indicated that the bitfield allocates resources based on the second unit size.
 16. The methodaccording to claim 11, wherein at least the first and second bandwidthparts are associated to the same carrier.
 17. The method according toclaim 11, wherein the bit field allocated resources for a specificchannel.
 18. The method according to claim 11, wherein the resourceallocation message is addressed to a plurality of user equipments. 19.The method according to claim 11, wherein the bit field allocatesresources in a third bandwidth part with a third unit size of resourceallocation.
 20. A user equipment for a radio access network, the userequipment comprising processing circuitry configured to cause the userequipment to: receive a resource allocation message, the resourceallocation message comprising a bit field, the resource allocationmessage being received in a common search space in a first bandwidthpart with a first unit size of resource allocation, the bit fieldmapping to resources to be allocated in a second bandwidth part with asecond unit size of resource allocation; and communicate on the secondbandwidth part utilizing the second unit size based on the bit field.